Digital video recorders (DVRs) have become very popular in recent years, increasingly replacing VCRs as the primary device for users to record all manner of television programs. In a DVR, programs are stored on a hard disk drive rather than on a VHS tape, which results in numerous benefits. Hard disk drives can typically store more programs than a VHS tape, can record one program while another previously recorded program is played back, can allow a user to begin watching a program that has already begun recording before the recording is completed, can oftentimes support better video and/or audio quality than a VHS tape, can allow indexing so that users can quickly see what programs are stored on the DVR and can quickly select programs for playback, can support random access to programs so that rewinding or fast forwarding to a particular portion of a tape is not required, and so on.
The manner in which a user selects programs to be recorded on a DVR can vary. One way in which programs can be selected for recording is to display an electronic program guide (EPG) to the user that allows the user to scroll ahead in time to find and select programs for recording. Another way is to display a search interface to the user that allows the user to enter various search criteria, such as a program title, keywords, actor(s)/actress(es), and so forth. The search criteria are compared to upcoming programs, and any program that satisfies the search criteria can be automatically recorded or an option presented to the user to allow the user to select whether to record the program(s) that satisfy the search criteria.
However, one problem that remains with DVRs is that their ability to record programs is limited to current and future programs. Typically, DVRs are not able to record programs from the past—only programs that are currently being aired or will be aired in the future can be recorded. Thus, if a user realizes that a program he or she would like to record ended an hour ago, or aired the previous night, the user is unable to have his or her DVR record that program. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to have a way for DVRs to overcome this limitation and record programs from the past.